Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today its new Mercury Legacy Pro Solid State Drive (SSD) line as the first and fastest SandForce processor based SSD available for pre-Intel PowerPC based Mac notebooks, PCs, and other notebook/laptop computers that utilize an internal 2.5" sized IDE/ATA drive. This announcement establishes OWC as the most comprehensive U.S. manufacturer of industry leading SandForce processor based SSDs available today with OWC Mercury Pro brand SSD models available for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade. OWC will be demonstrating the new Mercury Legacy Pro and other first-to-market OWC Mercury Pro SSDs in booth #3935, LVCC North Hall, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which begins tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today that its OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini 1.5TB model is the highest capacity 2.5" "Quad Interface" bus powered portable storage solution on the market and available for immediate ordering with 12 models priced from $99.97. Featuring a "Quad Interface" of FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, and eSATA interface connectivity for data transfer speeds up to 300MB/s, the fanless Mercury Elite-AL Pro mini delivers the highest storage/backup performance available to Mac or PC users in a portable, brushed aluminum, no AC adapter required Plug and Play footprint.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a global leader in storage and multimedia products, today announced the addition of low-profile mSATA and half-slim solid state drives (SSD) to its industrial product line. The new small footprint SSDs are designed especially for applications where a small form factor is desired, such as thin and light notebooks, netbooks, tablets, GPS, and mobile internet devices (MID).

No bigger than a business card, Transcend's two new SSD modules offer greater design flexibility and cost savings compared to most SSDs which typically use the larger 2.5" form factor. Despite their compact size, the mSATA and half-slim SSDs feature a high-bandwidth SATA 3Gb/s interface that helps to bring the performance advantages of SSDs to notebooks, mobile devices and other embedded storage applications.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced today that it has developed and started sampling 100, 200 and 400 gigabyte (GB) multi-level-cell (MLC) solid state drives (SSDs) for use as the primary storage in enterprise storage systems.

"As more and more server makers are adopting SSDs for use in eco-friendly platforms that consume less electrical power, the need for high-density SSDs in the server market is growing rapidly," said Byungse So, senior vice president, memory product planning & application engineering team, Samsung Electronics. "While Samsung is already well situated in the SSD market for enterprise servers with high-performance SSDs using single-level-cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, we are now expanding our line-up to include high-density SSDs using MLC NAND flash memory."

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today it has expanded its award-winning storage solution line with the new Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual mini bus powered portable hardware RAID storage solution. Featuring 14 pre-configured models with hardware RAID-1 "mirrored" redundancy for "live activity" data protection; or RAID-0 "stripe" for maximum data transfer speed, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual mini contains two 2.5" hard drives or OWC Mercury SSDs for up to 2.0TB of capacity, a "Quad Interface" of FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, & eSATA connections for Plug and Play data transfer speeds up to 300 MB/s with Mac and PC computers.

Measuring the approximate size of a portable CD player - 5.6" (D) x 6.1" (W) x 1.1" (H) - the bus powered (no AC adapter needed) Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual mini's unique flat side by side two drive design enables it to fit into laptop, photography, and other gear carrying bags easily and without adding any bulk. With 14 models offering two 2.5" SATA hard drives with up to 2.0TB of capacity or two award-winning OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSDs with up to 800GB of capacity, the Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual mini delivers big storage performance in an under two pound, fanless solution.

Other World Computing, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Do-It-Yourself (DIY) SSD Storage Upgrade Kit priced starting at $109.99 MSRP. Available in fourteen configurations with capacities up to 480GB, the OWC DIY SSD Kits let you upgrade your Mac or Windows laptop to the industry's fastest solid state drives (SSDs) available on the market today.

With the OWC DIY SSD Storage Upgrade Kit, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and PC laptop users can make their computers faster than new with incredible SSD performance by upgrading their computer's internal hard drive with the industry's fastest SSDs from OWC. They can then continue to use their 'old' drive by installing it into the provided OWC enclosure for a 'new' pocket-sized portable external drive, saving money and the environment by re-using their 'old' hard drive instead of throwing a perfectly good drive into a landfill or just letting the drive sit idle and unused. By purchasing the OWC DIY SSD Kit, customers will also save up to 40% versus buying all the included components separately.

Extending its position in the enterprise storage market, Toshiba Storage Device Division announces its new family of enterprise-class solid state drives (SSDs). Developed to meet the market's demand for higher performance and lower power consumption, the new MKx001GRZB series combines Toshiba hard disk drive (HDD) expertise and its leadership as the inventor of NAND flash technology. The 2.5-inch small form factor drives use the latest 32 nanometer (nm) enterprise grade single-level cell (eSLC) NAND flash memory from Toshiba and 6 Gb/sec Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface. Samples will be available for customer qualification in the first quarter of 2011 and volume production will begin in the first half of 2011.

"Toshiba offers the industry's most comprehensive range of storage technologies and the resulting synergies distinguish us as a world-class total storage provider," said Joel Hagberg, vice president of enterprise marketing at Toshiba Storage Device Division. "Toshiba stands alone in the market as the only SSD supplier that is vertically integrated for NAND flash and has deep enterprise HDD expertise. We possess one of the world's largest and most advanced NAND flash fabs, our own controller and firmware design teams, critical interface technologies, and established relationships with every major enterprise server and storage OEM. As a result, Toshiba is uniquely positioned to engineer solid state drives that deliver the performance, endurance, and reliability required for business critical applications."

Leading flash memory manufacturer, Silicon Power today unleashes their new 2.5" SATA solid state drive (SSD) ~ E20, a new prospect in computer storage! The new E20 challenges SSD limitations with uniquely developed technology to boost read speeds up to 250MB/s and write speeds up to 230MB/s, both data transfer rates surpass the major SSD on the market today. In addition, E20 also supports TRIM Command. It is specifically for Windows 7 users, allowing for swift tens of seconds OS startup time and instant application and software use. For users using other OS, E20 provides Garbage Collection Technology. It enhances SSD's already strong performances and prevents poor computer responses from long hours of continuous use. It is the ingredient to achieving twice the result with half the effort.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, announces an exciting refresh of the renowned first generation Vertex and Colossus SSD Series. Called the Vertex Plus and Colossus Plus, the new SATA II solutions continue to implement the proven Indilinx technology while delivering significantly improved performance at their distinctively affordable price points.

OCZ continues to work diligently with the latest technology providers in flash storage with the goal of maintaining affordability for consumers that demand a faster, more responsive PC experience. Pricing and availability of the Vertex Plus and Colossus Plus series will be announced in the coming weeks.

Leveraging more than 50 years of design and qualification experience, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced its new Ultrastar solid state drive (SSD) family. The new Ultrastar SSD400S family comes in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB capacities, featuring both 2.5-inch 6Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and 3.5-inch 4Gb/s Fibre Channel (FC) interfaces. As the world's first jointly developed SAS and FC enterprise-class SSDs, the Ultrastar SSD400S family combines Hitachi's proven enterprise hard disk drive (HDD) expertise with Intel's extensive capabilities in developing high-endurance 34-nanometer (nm), single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory and advanced SSD technology. This combination provides unique value to customers who are increasingly looking to tiered storage as a method of managing the escalating performance, capacity, endurance and reliability demands of today's data centers.

"Hitachi's strategic investment and commitment in the enterprise market is evident with the new Ultrastar SSD family. Our new SSD product family not only symbolizes our market opportunity to serve evolving cloud data center infrastructures, but also delivers value to our customers in terms of increasing data center performance and reducing total cost of ownership," said Mike Cordano, executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Hitachi GST. "We have a strong track record of working with global enterprise customers and are proud to report favorable responses to the Ultrastar SSD400S family. With qualifications now underway, we anticipate volume shipments to commence in the first half of 2011."

Other World Computing announced today it has added four new 750GB 7200 RPM models to its award-winning OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro bus powered portable storage solution line. The Mercury On-The-Go Pro is a high-performance, pocket-sized portable storage solution for Mac or PC users featuring FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 3, and/or USB 2.0 interfaces for real world data transfer speeds up to 170MB/s. Available with up to 1.0TB of storage capacity, the Mercury On-The-Go Pro can hold up to one million JPEG photos, 500 DVD movies, 76 hours of digital video, or 350,000 MP3 songs.

The Mercury On-The-Go Pro 750GB 7200RPM line features four models, including a "Triple Interface" model for FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0; a "Combo Interface" model for FireWire 400 and USB 2.0; a USB 3.0 "SuperSpeed" model for USB 3/2.0 Backwards; and a USB 2.0 model all available immediately priced from $134.99 from Other World Computing. In addition to the newest models, Mercury On-The-Go Pro models are available with up to 1.0TB in 5400RPM models and also available with Solid State Drives (SSD) with models currently up to 240GB.

The High Speed Data Link (HSDL) interface, designed by OCZ as an alternative to SATA and SAS, for high data-rate and high I/O solid-state drives (SSD) in an enterprise environment, gained quite some attention. Funky Kit scored a sample, and got the chance to dissect OCZ's first SSD that makes use of the HSDL interface, the IBIS 160 GB. OCZ also found a novel way to propagate HSDL, by bundling a single-port PCI-Express x4 addon card. Upon taking apart the card, one can understand exactly how it works. Under the hood, there are two main PCBs, one that houses a HSDL-based 2-port SATA RAID controller, and the other, which holds two independent SandForce-driven SATA SSD sub-units.

Two two SSD sub-units are striped in an internal RAID 0, which is kept abstract to the host. The HSDL itself is technically very similar to PCI-Express, in being a point-to-point serial data link. The IBIS SSD is rated to have read-write speeds of 740 MB/s and 690 MB/s, respectively, with 4KB random write performance of 100,000 IOPS. The drive connects to its host PCI-E addon card over a proprietary-design cable, while retains the SATA power connector input of conventional SATA devices. The drive itself adheres to the 3.5" PC form-factor. More pictures can be found at the source.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, has announced the opening of a new SSD manufacturing plant in Taipei, Taiwan slated to begin operation on Monday, October 25.

A testament to the Company's dedication to market leadership, the new facility features best of class manufacturing, as well as test and burn-in technology required by the Company's growing OEM client base. The new facility increases the Company's SSD manufacturing capacity to 140,000 units a month from 50,000 units a month internally, accommodating the growing demand for both client and enterprise OCZ SSDs.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, is teaming up with SandForce Inc. to deliver exceptional new SSD products that leverage Serial-ATA (SATA) 6 Gb/s and cost-effective NAND flash components. With the updated architecture, the OCZ Deneva Family will continue to lead the way in the transition from hard disc drives (HDDs) to SSD data storage and IT infrastructures. OCZ is set to begin sample distribution to current and potential clients in the fourth quarter of 2010, with mass production beginning in the first quarter of 2011.

"We have a strong partnership with SandForce and are excited to utilize their new SF-2000 family of SSD processors in our next generation Enterprise and Industrial Solid State Drive products," said Alex Mei, CMO at the OCZ Technology Group. "Together we will be able to offer our enterprise clients a very robust line of ultra reliable 6 Gb/s SSDs in a variety of interfaces ranging from SATA to SAS within our customizable Deneva Series."

SandForce Inc., the pioneer of SSD (Solid State Drive) Processors that enable standard NAND Flash deployment in enterprise, client, and industrial computing applications, today announced the availability of the SF-2000 Family of SSD Processors optimized for SSDs deployed in mission-critical Enterprise and Industrial computing applications. These chips feature a 6 Gigabit-per-second SATA host interface, industry applauded DuraClass Technology, an unprecedented 60,000 sustained random read/write IOPS (Input-output Operations Per Second) and sustained sequential read/write performance of 500 Megabytes per second. In addition to state-of-the-art performance, reliability, security, and Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) connectivity enhancements, the SF-2000 family supports single-level, multi-level, and enterprise multi-level cell (SLC, MLC, & eMLC) NAND Flash families from all major suppliers with its high-speed ONFi2 and Toggle Flash interface.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it is mass producing 100 and 200 gigabyte (GB) solid state drives (SSDs) for use as the primary storage in enterprise storage systems. "By being able to fully meet the rising demand for high-performance and eco-friendly server and storage platforms, SSDs will be able to penetrate the enterprise application market even more rapidly," said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to deliver SSD solutions with outstanding performance and low power consumption to provide optimal value for data centers and other enterprise storage environments."

The first recipient of the drive will be EMC. "EMC collaborated with Samsung to qualify Samsung's new enterprise-class SSDs for EMC's market-leading midrange storage portfolio," said Joel Schwartz, Sr. Vice President, Common Storage Platform Operations at EMC. Samsung started producing its 3.5 inch 100 and 200GB SSDs last month. Adopting SSDs as a main storage media in storage systems will minimize power consumption as well as enhance overall system performance, leading to a lowering of the total cost of ownership over time.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) and memory modules for computing devices and systems, has unveiled a proprietary interface called "High-Speed Data Link" (HSDL) to accelerate the progression of solid-state storage. Unsatisfied with existing interface options, OCZ developed HSDL to eliminate I/O bottlenecks and enable SSD technology to operate at its full potential. With this initiative, OCZ aims to enhance high performance computing (HPC) and I/O-intensive infrastructures for its clients.

"Solid State Drive throughput speeds are increasing at a rate in excess of what current storage buses can support, and as a result, storage protocols are quickly becoming the bottleneck to storage subsystem performance," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. "Designed for both high-performance computing and enterprise storage applications, our new High Speed Data Link interface addresses this issue and revolutionizes data storage by significantly outperforming other current interfaces delivering performance at levels that saturate most CPU buses."

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer peripheral solutions, today announced the immediate availability of the Patriot Convoy 4x4 series of 5.25" bay enclosures for 2.5" Hard Disk Drives or Solid State Drives. The Patriot Convoy 425S and Convoy 425XL expand upon the award winning Convoy product line of 3.5" bay devices for two 2.5" drives.

Designed with storage density and performance in mind, each Patriot Convoy 425S and 425XL storage device provides a simple to install solution for up to four 2.5" HDD or SSD with the 425XL offering RAID functionality. Displayed during the 2010 Computex trade show as part of a technology showcase with high capacity SSD systems, the Convoy 425XL was a key component for the Patriot Artemis II technology demonstration. Paired with 56 Patriot Inferno 100GB SSDs in RAID 0 configuration, the storage and performance benefits of this enclosure were evident: maximum storage density in a small space with extreme performance. In the Artemis II system, the Patriot Inferno SSDs and the Convoy 425XL achieved breathtaking performance of over 240,000 IOPS.

Panasonic Solutions Company, provider of collaboration, information-sharing and decision-support solutions for government and commercial enterprises, today announced the newest member of its Toughbook U1 ultra-mobile PC product family, the Toughbook U1 Ultra. All Toughbook U1 products combine the portability of a handheld computer, the benefits of a full Windows OS, the durability needed for enterprise applications and a suite of available integrated features. The new Toughbook U1 Ultra is equipped with a TransflectivePlus display for up to 6000 nit viewability in direct sunlight, 64GB solid state hard drive, 2GB of memory, an Intel Atom Processor (Z530 1.6Ghz) and Windows 7. The device is ideal for highly mobile jobs such as direct store delivery (DSD), eCitation and vegetation management in markets like supply chain management, public safety and utilities.

SandForce Inc., the pioneer of SSD (Solid State Drive) Processors that enable standard NAND Flash deployment in enterprise, client and industrial computing applications, today announced that it has closed $25 million in Series D funding, led by Canaan Partners. Existing investors who also participated include DCM, Storm Ventures, Translink Capital, LSI Corporation & UMC Capital.

"We are increasing volume shipments of our Enterprise and Client SSD Processors to leading drive manufacturers around the globe and continue to receive exceptional market acceptance of our DuraClass technology in I/O intensive storage applications," said Michael Raam, president and CEO of SandForce. "This new funding will help us bring our next-generation products to market, expand our customer and partner support infrastructure, and accelerate our core technology development that will extend our market leadership."

Transcend Information, Inc, a global leader in storage and multimedia products, today announced a radical upgrade of its 2.5" solid state drives (SSD). The new SSDs boast transfer speeds reaching 260 MB/s and storage capacities up to 512 GB, offering performance-minded enthusiasts a perfect combination of speed, high-capacity storage and long-term reliability.

To boost overall performance, Transcend's new 2.5-inch SATA SSDs feature an upgraded controller chip that supports a maximum sequential transfer speed of 260 MB/s read and 200 MB/s write. This dramatically improved performance translates into significantly faster system boot up and application launch speed, while offering the lag-free responsiveness and stability necessary for storage-intensive computing and high-end gaming systems.

ADATA Technology, the world leader in DRAM modules and flash memory products, proudly launched the N004 2.5-inch flash drive, equipped with both USB 3.0 and SATA II interfaces. The N004 is truly an outstanding work of art that differs from conventional portable storage devices.

Re-defining the perception of advanced portable drives, the N004 adopts a 2.5-inch plush aluminum case, and the super-size storage capacity runs to 256GB. Moreover, the USB 3.0 and SATA II dual interface supports both SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and SATA standards. Adoption of 8-channel technology allows the N004 to outperform normal flash drives in delivering blazing transfer rates, up to 200 MB/s and 170 MB/s in sequential read/write performance respectively.

Mushkin, Inc., a global leader in enhanced-performance computer products and, through its Mushkin Select brand, the VAR channel, announced today the release of a new solid state drive in its Callisto deluxe series, a 40 GB version. This SSD is ideal for new adopters of solid state drive technology looking for an extremely fast drive at a very attractive price, and offers excellent performance when coupled with other drives in RAID configurations.

"Our new 40GB Callisto deluxe drives are a product that customers in all segments can enjoy. They are not only a great solution to enter the exciting world of solid state disk technology, but also a great data storage solution for enthusiasts when placed in a RAID configuration." - Brian Flood, Mushkin's director of product development. Boasting read speeds of up to 280 MB/s and write speeds of up to an impressive 270 MB/s, the Callisto deluxe series is equipped with the industry-acclaimed Sandforce SF-1200 controller.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today a new 40GB model to its award-winning OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD line as the most affordable high performance SandForce Processor based Solid State Drive on the market. Designed and made in the U.S. from imported parts, the new OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 40GB SSD's special introductory pricing of $99.99 makes it the lowest priced SSD on the market to offer three key high performance features:

• Industry leading sustained Read AND Write speeds over 260MB/s (with peak speeds up to 285MB/s).
• Best in class error correction (ECC) and SandForce RAISE redundancy with 7% over provisioning.
• SandForce DuraClass technology with ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling for long term durability.

MOSAID Technologies Inc. today introduced a Solid State Drive (SSD) prototype utilizing MOSAID's innovative HyperLink NAND (HLNAND) architecture and interface. Designed by MOSAID and its development partner INDILINX, the HLNAND SSD prototype is optimized for mass storage applications, including enterprise data centers and high-performance computing environments.

MOSAID's HLNAND SSD prototype proves that 213MBps read performance and 130MBps write performance is achievable on a single channel of HLNAND Flash memory. In contrast, current second-generation SSDs require eight or more channels for the same level of performance.